6th YEAR OF A DIFFERENT ADVERTISING FESTIVALMay 26th to 27th, 2015

Pipeline / Said about us

Absolut PIAF!

06/05/2012Thanks to all Jurors and Speakers, who strongly suported this years PIAF! Sebastian Billing, Global Communication Director for Absolut at Pernod Ricard, was one of them. This is what he had to say about the out of the box festival: "PIAF’s effort in developing a new, fresh and innovative advertising festival has my full support. I think you’re doing a great job in trying to make a difference, break the mold and stimulate the ‘out of the box’ philosophy you want PIAF to stand for in the future. I’m sure the international world of advertising and communication will consider PIAF as the place to enter innovative, ‘out of the box’ work in the future. I will for sure do everything I can to spread the word and encourage people and projects to enter next year – and the years to come. I will start with 2 of my own ABSOLUT projects launching this year."

Thanks all the participants who voted and created ads inspired by the Pixmac pictures. See the summary of our game in this video. The design & development was created by Inspiro Solutions, the creative concept & design supervision was done by VCCP Prague. If you are on Facebook, just tag our photos from the festival in galleries.

"Make Me Famous!" - manage agency´s reputation

19/04/2012Creative agencies consider PR to be the crucial thing when it comes to promotiong themselves. Anyway they ofter lack the time and patience to do it right. They should take time to attend the PIAF workshop by Kerrie Finch, the founder of Finch Factor, on Wednesday 25th April (12:30-14:30). The topic is "How to manage your reputation and build credibility in the creative industry". Cristina Muntean, president of PR Klub ČR, asked Kerrie few questions about her very special business.Cristina: Why do communication agencies need the help of an external communicator? Is it a matter of time management, external expertize or something else?
Kerrie: What agencies need is an expert who concentrates on the job in hand. It doesn't matter so much where they sit. That person can either be an employee, a freelancer, or a PR company brought on board to offer strategic counsel. Cristina: How do you create added-value for such clients?
Kerrie: By offering an excellent skills set which the client simply doesn't have in-house. A lot of creative agencies are busy creating superb brand campaigns for their clients, but they don't have time to build their own reputation. Or even see that this is required, in order to influence the clients they are looking to attract. That's where we come in - everything we do is about business development. If it's not helping the client grow, what's the point?Cristina: Aren't they difficult clients, given the fact that they advise clients on the same topic on a daily basis? How do you deal with their objections?
Kerrie: All creatives are passionate about what they do, which is what I love about working within the creative agency. One international client pointed it out to me like this: FinchFactor builds the brand of the brand builders. We manage the reputation and build the credibility of creative agencies, because they have their eye on another ball - their client brand. I should mention, we also work with brands directly, such as Diageo or Honda. We like to work as sparring partners with our clients. We are not 'nodding dogs' or 'press release machine'. We offer so much more and therefore know when to push back. It's all part of the process. I want to work with people I respect because ultimately we are dealing in reputations - ours at FinchFactor as much as the client's. I have to feel engaged and attracted to what we're doing, or I won't do it. Authenticity is everything.Cristina: What are the most important challenges in image management for communication agencies? What is your solution to overcome them?
Kerrie: A lot of agencies want to work regionally or internationally, as well as locally. But this takes mores than just deciding to say that. There is a mind-shift involved. Are the staff internationally minded? Do people have experience of working with more than one culture? Are the clients from your own backyard, or are they internationally-focused? Is the collective experience-pool able to handle it? This can be a challenge - helping a client realise sometimes that, whilst drive and ambition is good, it has to be based in reality and know-how to make it work.Cristina: How do you handle risk management, for example when a key person leaves the agency and takes a consistent amount of deals and clients with him or her? What's your advice for agencies confronted with such situations?
Kerrie: Business is business - try not to take it personally. Unless of course it's very personal! The great work that an agency has created will always sit with that agency, no one can take that away. Think forwards - and fail forwards. What strengths do you have right now? Think strategically about the guns in your arsenal and be on the front foot.Cristina: Do you see differences among various Western markets in your business line? How about a comparison between Western and Eastern European agencies in this regard?
Kerrie: Yes, there are differences across regions. Some countries are more experienced than others in th business of reputation management and brand communications. Which means there is an opportunity to learn fast. Generally, I think people are hungry for knowledge and want to be the very best they can be. We can help them get there. We specialise in cross-borders thinking. Europe doesn't have a single pool to play in. I'm not sure anywhere does really. It's a collection of lily-pads. We know how to jump between them and swim strong between them. The more creative companies who can reach across borders the better, I think.

PIAF Conference: Advertising that inspires

19/04/2012Second day of PIAF Awards program will feature some very prominent key note speakers. Ted Florea is Group Strategy Head in one of the most creative agencies in the World - Droga5 New York. According to him, brands must fit in, not force into existing behaviors. They should create culture that consumers actually seek, not hide from. Another leaderat the conference is Jean Maria Dru, Chairman at TBWA Worldwide. Author of many publications, who coined the term "disruption", is coming to Prague for the first time. Last years PIAF Grand Prix winner and this years Jury President, the charismatic Gideon Amichay, will introduce his working method of "innovation meetings". At the conference, you can study case studies of brands such as Mini, O2, Intel, Kvas, Absolut Vodka, Spotify, News International, Unilever and more.

Design bag by Lexon for conference visitors

PIAF has teamed up with the iconic design brand Lexon represented by Aba in Czech Republic. The conference pass and exclusive pass holders will receive a special flat document bag by Lexon. Lexon has opened stores in Europe and oversees, in Czech Republic it first appeared at Designblok. Most of the Design geeks will remember the iconic Lexon Rubber Radio. Founded ten years ago, Lexon brew up from small french studio into a globally respected brand. Visitors of PIAF conference will also see all the Lexon portfolio at the festival venue.

The Finalists of our Facebook contest

15/02/2012Check out all the finalists of our Facebooku contest and try it here! You can win iPad2 a PIAF statue! The applicant shall choose one of three randomly system generated photos and create a headline and a product type for the photo. His ad will be than shown in the application gallery of the Facebook profile of PIAF. The winner will be chosen by the festival Jury. We believe, you can find people with "out of the box" thinking anywhere, not just in ad agencies. Let´s try it!

Our strategic mind: Jonny Bauer, Droga5

09/02/2012PIAF Jury will focus on creative approaches to brand building from design to sales support. A great strategic foundation can ensure Jonny Bauer, Head of Strategy of Droga5, pays attention to your campaign. He will help the Jury to explore "in the box" thinking, saying, "I'm not interested in stepping out of the box for the sake of doing something new. I'm interested in doing something appropriate within the box I'm given that's powerful, credible and adds value for the brand in any category." His agency was named last year´s number one by Creativity and number two by AdAge. Jonny’s recent successes include Puma Social Campaign, which is a great example of storytelling, flash impact and game (PIAF categories). Another success is the "Decode Jay´s Z with Bing" campaign, a brilliant execution, which uses technologies and traditional advertising formats in a new way. Great campaigns just don´t fit in single PIAF category.

Banker leave the City and join the creative business

25/01/2012Last week in London, a banker broke free of his corporate chains and escaped the City for a life in the creative industries. He was driving his corner desk, complete with phone and printer, through the financial district, to the legendary steps of 80 Charlotte St. The stunt, staged by Saatchi & Saatchi, marked the launch of their Summer Scholarship scheme for 2012, delivering the message that the creative industries are still recruiting new talent in a time when many other sectors are not. They created a medium of its own. Creating the media is one of categories in PIAF Awards. And be prepared, among the judges is Paul Silburn from Saatchi&Saatchi London.

Calendar made for man

Serviceplan made a special calendar for special clients of the german magazine for man. All the year long, the FHM clients and readers can practice smooth opening of a bra by changing the numbers, weekdays and months on the calendar. Great example of audience engagement and a game too. These are both categories judged at PIAF Awards. by the way, one of the Jury members is CCO of Serviceplan Alexander Schill.

Creative use of the classics

Making fun of traffic signs is not allowed in any civilized country. Unless you have good cause and sponsorship. Shalmor Avnon Amichay/Y&R in Israel created 100 special stop signs on intersections in Tel Aviv. It was a mutation of the well known stop sign, which unfortunatelly is not well and often watched. The text, translated in English, reads "Some signs can't be ignored". We are loking forward for more such ideas in the PIAF contest category "Creative use of traditional advertising formats".

Volkswagen parking on tablet

19/01/2012

Volkswagen has a new ad designed specially for magazine on iPad. This example from Brazil shows perfectly, how you can use the technology in a creative way while keeping feets on the ground. Well hands on the ground actually. In this interactive ad, the new Volkswagen Tiguan is parking just betwenn your fingers on the screen. Very smoothly and with the help of Park Assist System. "So you can park without using your hands", claims the ad done by AlmapBBDO.

By the way, Luiz Sanches, creative director of the agency, is in our Jury! And Creative use of technology is one of our categories.

PIAF PIAF PIAF, competition revolution!

24/05/2011

The winners of the PIAF Awards 2011 were announced in Prague on May 12th. Congratulations! In the following video, you can hear the original rock hymn of PIAF performed by the managing director of PIAF Marek Hlavica during the Award ceremony. This years PIAF was groundbreaking in many ways. „In its categories, PIAF has also shown a real understanding of advertising, and the way it is made. The venue is very nice and the organisation has been excellent,“ noted Donald Gunn, the founder of Gunn Report. In an interview for Radio Česko, Mr. Gunn said, PIAF has the full potential to be included in his Report.

PIAF received entries from 33 countries

21/04/2011Agencies from all around the world from USA, Brazil, across Middle Europe to India or Australia send their entries to the revolutionary ad contest. PIAF is the first festival to change the way of evaluation radically, leaving the classical "media based" categories aside. In Prague, the Jury led by Michael Conrad will judge entries from 92 agencies from 33 countries. The shortlist will be revealed next week. Most ambitious in sending entries was Y&R Brands (CR), Grabarz & Partner (Germany), Ogilvy Mather Hungary & Ukraine, E-Dologic Publicis (Israel) a Saatchi & Saatchi (CR).

We target the most creative agencies

PIAF sends more than 80 custom made posters to creative agencies in USA, Great Britain, Spain, France and Brazil. They feature the headquaters of each agency together with the PIAF armoured bird and a "threat" to the creative directors. We also target AlmapBBDO, recognised as the most creative agency of the world by Gunn Report. The campaign was created by Y&R Prague and speaks to the creatives in the most personal way.

Choose the right category

22/02/2011It´s not always easy to squeeze all the creative achievements into the right categories. But it’s different at PIAF. Instead of using the typical classification like film, print, outdoor, we have a truly new system. We reflect the complexity and - in some sense – the chaos of current communications. Just take this ad created by the DDB Germany (where one of our Jury members Eric Schoeffler serves as the Chief Creative Officer). Is it a print or outdoor ad? For us, it’s a great example of a "flash impact" and "brilliant execution" as well. And that’s what makes this ad stand out.

Valentine with Heineken Beer Gloss

17/02/2011

Did you enjoy Valentine´s Day? What about the idea of "Beer gloss" developed for such an occasion by JWT Milan and Heineken? Whether you liked it or not, this is surely an example of creative sales promotion. Such work could score in the new PIAF category "Creative sales & sales support". By the way, we have the Heineken Global Manager Of Communication and also the ex-JWT Milan Creative with us on board as Jury members...a

Case study:

The Story of the spanish "Village of Experts"

17/02/2011

The Microsoft campaign "A village of Experts" was done by one of our Jury members Pablo Pérez-Solero and his agency Bungalow 25. They launched the Windows 7 system in a far-off Spanish village. "It's all Greek to me", say the British, "it's a Spanish village to me", say the Czechs. This is by the way a perfect example of storytelling used for advertising and a campaign, it would probably score in the PIAF new category "Storytelling".

John Zogby - Keynote speaker at PIAF 2010

"There is no better place in the world than Prague to gather a group of creative thinkers. This first ever conference is a great idea and only promises to get better like fine wine. I am honored to have been included, to have a chance to test new ideas, and to listen to the best in the industry. 2010’s inaugural was a wonderful beginning."

PAUL SMITH - JURY MEMBER AT PIAF 2010

"There are many reasons to go to Prague not least of all is the beer, the Czech's have been drinking beer since 859 AD, the first brewery was opened in 1118 they invented Pilsner in 1842.

There are dozens of pubs where you can enjoy all this beer. There are traditional pubs, Tankova pubs, Pubs with football, late night pubs pubs with dancing pubs without dancing.

Here in case you are lucky enough to be invited to the next Piaf is a few handly phrases, Dobrý den (hello), Dvě piva prosím (two Beers please), Kde jsou toalety? (where are the toilets?), Děkuju (thanks).

All this and the opportunity to see some of the best creative work in the world, is what could be better than the Piaf Awards."